Chair of the Central Coast Chapter of Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA), Caine King, has welcomed an announcement from the State Government that the Department of Planning and Environment is to become two new departments to better deliver on the Government’s priorities of addressing the energy challenges, climate change, the environment and housing.
From January 1, 2024, two new departments will come into effect: the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
King said UDIA welcomes the focus on housing delivery, and the acknowledgement that infrastructure must be planned to enable housing that serves the community’s needs.
“We have a housing crisis on the Central Coast and solving this crisis requires us all to work together,” he said.
“NSW has accepted the challenge from the Albanese Government to build 75,600 new homes a year in NSW to meet the new national housing target.
“That target is 60 per cent higher than what was delivered last year.
“Unfortunately, on the Central Coast, we are well behind meeting even our current targets.
“According to the Central Coast Regional Plan, our current working target is 1,625 new homes per year.
“The Department of Planning reports we only delivered 1,169 new homes last year, and our approvals are tracking below the previous five-year average.
“We caution that housing is not just the responsibility of the Planning Minister and the Housing Minister, but rather nine Ministerial portfolios have a role in city shaping and housing delivery, including the Minister for Environment.
“Our local Council also has an important role to play.
“We need Central Coast Council to work collaboratively with State Government departments and agencies, and also with industry, to meet the dual challenges of housing delivery and sustainability.
“For the Central Coast, we are pleased: that the Department of Planning has established a Central Coast Urban Development Program (UDP) Committee which brings together state and local authorities to align infrastructure and environmental approvals to unlock more housing for the Coast; and that the State Government is investing in a Strategic Conservation Plan for the Central Coast, so we can ensure we protect our local biodiversity while also finding the right places to build new homes.”
King said the Government must now act quickly to turn on all the available mechanisms and get the policy settings right so industry can move quickly to build the houses needed.
“UDIA has consistently advocated for increased funding for enabling infrastructure like water and sewerage to unlock new homes and the $500 million Housing Support Program may provide opportunities for Central Coast to kick-start housing supply locally,” he said.
“Both the NSW Government and Central Coast Council must ensure their very genuine commitments to deliver new housing aren’t undermined by unnecessary and ill-timed new housing costs which will simply put the great Australian dream further out of reach for prospective home buyers.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the Government had inherited a housing crisis more than a decade in the making and the new departmental structure, together with new planning rules which encourage the construction of more homes and infrastructure contribution reforms would hone the housing delivery focus.
Terry Collins